. >> we're ready to protect middle-class families from the fiscal cliff that they're facing by freezing the tax rates for the first $250,000 of all americans' income. letting the rates go up to the same level they were during the clinton administration. republicans know where we stand. we've said it. we've said it. we've said it so many times. the president said the same thing. it's been weeks, at least two weeks, since we met at the white house. we're still waiting for a serious offer from the republicans. really, now is the time for the republicans to move past this happy talk about revenues, ill-defined, of course, and put specifics on the table. the president has made his proposal. we need a proposal from them. i'm glad to see there are some reasonable republicans breaking from the pack. veteran representative cole and a new member, scott from south carolina, have said basically the same thing. and that is, they should bring to the floor of the house the bill that's passed over here. it would pass overwhelmingly, as scott said in the press today. our bill would pass in a matter of m